FROM HETHEL WITH LOVE

The car itself was the brainchild of Lotus founder Colin Chapman, whose cars were built from his factory in the village of Hethel in Norfolk. He was the leading exponent of the classic British motoring tradition of agility over outright power, building very light fibreglass bodied designs, with small but highly tuned four-cylinder engines.

The Lotus Esprit’s now-iconic look was penned in the design studios of Giorgetto Giugiaro after a meeting with Chapman in 1972. Among the first of Giugiaro’s famous folded-paper’ designs, the car made its debut at the Paris Motor Show in 1975, heralded by Motorsport Magazine as the most exciting British car since the legendary Jaguar E-Type some 14 years earlier.

The car was so striking in its design that Chapman was keen to get the car into the Bond inventory, and he thought up a cunning plan to have his new creation strategically planted in the car park of Pinewood Studios where filming took place. The Esprit, with its futuristic looks, was an immediate hit with the production. It is still considered futuristic today: the original Wet Nellie was bought by Tesla founder Elon Musk in 2013, and he says it was the inspiration for the Tesla Cybertruck, unveiled last year.Today, finding an original Series 1 in top condition is rare, even for well-connected classic car enthusiasts; rarer still to find one so identical to the one driven so brilliantly by Moore’s 007. With the same chiselled good looks, gleaming white paintwork and wonderful 1970s kitsch orange and green upholstery, the car I am ready to put through its paces was, in fact, lovingly restored and trimmed by the same gentleman who had trimmed the cars for the original film.

Getting into the Esprit proves to be my first challenge. At 6ft 2in I am at the height limit, and so a certain technique is needed, a kind of side-slide into the cockpit (Jeremy Clarkson is 6ft 5in – sorry, sir, you’ve got no chance). The raked back driving position leaves me in no doubt that this is a thoroughbred sports car. Innovations like the single-cluster dashboard help me overlook the British Leyland switchgear, but all criticisms of the car end there.

As the highly tuned 1,973cc engine bursts into action, the car feels truly alive. Early criticism of the noise in the cabin was probably justified, but for short-sprint enjoyment the volume of the engine is wonderful. Despite the relative lack of power at 160bhp, the whole car weighs less than 1,000kg, propelling the Esprit from 0-60mph in less than seven seconds. The engine is light and responsive, and there’s that wonderful potting in the exhaust as I come off the throttle and the Weber carburettors over-fuel the twin-cam engine. It will instantly put a smile on your face.

The most striking feature of the Esprit’s performance is, without doubt, the responsive handling. With a wheel literally positioned at each corner of the chassis, and Chapman’s legendary focus on set up, the Esprit is truly agile, and responds quite incredibly through a series of tight, high-speed bends. In fact, the handling is so good that stunt drivers on The Spy Who Loved Me could not get the car to step out of line – Lotus had to draft in their own driver, development engineer Roger Becker, to truly put the car through its paces, in order to create the drama of those unforgettable chase scenes.

Built at a time of industrial action when the British motor industry was probably at its lowest ebb – turning out such classics as Austin’s Princess and the legend that is the Morris Marina – the Series 1 Lotus Esprit’s wild futuristic styling, bold interiors and thoroughbred racing lineage still, just like James Bond, make you proud to be British.